The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-08-18

CHArswoRrH, ILL.,, Aug. lS The awful
disaster three miles east of here, Wednesday
midnight, grows in horror as fresher and
fuller details arrive. 1t was the most horri-
BILE and destructive to life of any railroad
accident which has ever happened in this
country. The train, when it reached Chats
worth, consisted of eleven passenger
coaches, six sleeping cars, three chair cars,
one baggage car, one pay car, and two en-
gines, both in front On board are known
so have been $50 passengers, all excursion
lists to Niagara Falls.
Three miles east of Chatsworth is little
slough, and there the railroad track crosses
a dry run about ten feet deep and fifteen
wide Over this was stretched an ordinary
wooden trestle bridge, and as the excursion
train came laundering down on it, what
was the horror of the engineer on the front
engine when he saw that this bridge was
afire The first engine of the train passed
over, and the bridge fell Immediately after
ward. Such was the terrific momentum of
the train that car after car crashed into
that hole Of death ten feet deep and less than
a score of feet wide. until ten cars with their
precious human freight lay piled in the
ditch and the rest of the train was heaped
on top till the wreck was mountain thirty
feet high. Fire from the burning bridge
quickly communicated to the shivered
coaches, but fortunately it was soon extin-
guished, hundreds of willing hands throwing
water and dirt onto the flames, doubtless
burying number of the dead and injured.
The awful nature of the wreck may be
guessed from the fact that between the still
uninjured sleeper and the wreck of the en-
gine but two car-lengths intervened, and in
this space were crushed and mangled and
ground up all the passenger cars of the
train Inside these cars was not room, ap-
parently for Q rabbit to have escaped alive,
30 crossed and driven were they with frag-
ments of wreck Many of the dead were so
crushed that the sex was indistinguishahe,
even the clothes being ground into unrecog-
nizable bunches of rags saturated with
blood
A second silence followed the crash and
then the air was filled with shrieks of the
wounded. The groans of men, the screams
of women united to make an appalling
sound, and above ell could be heard the
agonizing cries Of little children, as in some
instances they lay pinned alongside of their
dead parents.
Hyenas in human form went into the cars
where the fires were burning flercely under
meath, and when the poor wretches who
were pinned there begged them "For Gods
sake to help them out" stripped them
of their watches and jewelry, and
searched their pockets for money When
the dead bodies were laid out in the cornfield
these fends turned them over in their search
Fy,r ont in ba
cornfield, sixteen purses, all empty, were
found in one heap Had the plunderers
been caught they would surely have been
lyuched.
A horrible suspicion is growing hourly
tina. the accident was deliberately planned
case of train wrec6ing; that tie bridge was
set on fire by miscreautS, who hoped to
seize the opportunity offered, aud the fact
that the bridge wa, SO far consumed at the
time the train came along, and the added
fact that the train was an hour and a half
late, are pointed out as evidence of a care
f1l conspiracy.
But very few of the people in Chats
worth closed their eyes in sleep last
night. and lights which shown through the
windows of nearly every house in the place,
told their own story of the faithful minis
dying Scores of residents and strangers
stood all night az the street corners and on
the depot platform, and talked over the
events of the past twenty-four hours with
bated breath AT the depot a couple Of
men We're busy inclOsing the remains of the
recognized dead in rude pine boxes, and the
Doise Of the hammers beat upon the ears and
mingled with the groans OF the wounded
1 Ia h. fDNTY
hall only few feet away across the track.
Here the scene was such as to melt the
stoutest heart. On nearly two scores OF
mattresses, some resting on chairs, and
others on the floor, were men, women and
children in various degrees Of suffering and
tOr ure. On one cot, side by side, with their
arms resting across each other, We're Robert
Zimmerman and his wife, of Peoria. The
sufferings of both were exruciating, and
Mr. mmerman'S faithful brother, who had
hurried to the scene TO do the best he could
to relieve their agony, was forced every few
moments to seek the open air to relieve his
own pent-up emotion. Near by was little
five-year-old, haxen haired, doll-faced Josie
Blanding, of Harker's Corners, near Peoria
who was brought here in a carriage by her
father from Piper City, at o'clock thh
morning She was suffering from internal
injuries, as we'll as contusions of the lower
hints but never a whimper came from her
lips. and she smiled sweetly as the nurse
whispered to her words of encouragement.
Upon the platform where the local Soloni
are won't to hold forth, pretty Lille
Valdejo, of Peoria, lay in what DIR. Bal
lard, who bent over her for hours, thought
were her last agonies. She was perfectly
conscious, and between her gasps for breath
told how she had travelled all over Europe
in safety, only to come face to face with
death, a few miles from her own home Her
mother lay dead across the street, but
despite her earnest pleadings for news no
one had the heart to tell her the dreadful
truth.
Dozens of persons who survive the wreck
tell graphic stories. Every one corrohoratei
the statement that the bridge was afire
when the train struck, and everyone speaks
OF the robbery of the dead and dying by &
horde Of thieves.
In the second coach was an unknown man
his wife and child. The entire family were
pinned down by woodwork. When relief can't
the man feebly said: Take out my wife
first; I'm afraid the child is dead" So they
carried out the mother, and as broken
seat was taken Off her crushed breast the
blood which welled from her lips told how
badly she was hurt. They carried tho child,
= fair haired, blue-eyed girl of three, and
laid. her in the cornfsld. dead. alongside Of
her dying mother. They went back for the
father. Both his legs were broken, but he
crAwlsd through the corn TO the side of his
wife and feeling her loved features in the
darkness, pressed some brandy to her lips
and asked her how she felt A feeble groan
was the only answer, and the next instant
abe died. The man felt the dead forms Of
his wife and child, and cried OUT my Godl
there 10 nothing more for me to live for
now, and, taking pistol out Of his pocket
pulled the trigger. The bullet went through
his brain, and the three dead bodies Of that
little family are now lying side by bide in
Chatsworth waiting to be identified.